Claude Context Admin

Visualize and edit your Claude Code configuration and memory.

Newer models need less instruction, yet most Claude Code setups keep piling on more. Rules files run to hundreds of lines, and memories hang on to things that stopped being true weeks ago. All of it loads into every session. You pay for that in tokens and time, and past a certain point the extra instruction makes the results worse.

Claude Context Admin is a free, open-source app to visualize and edit your Claude Code configuration and memory. It runs entirely on your machine. Claude's suggestions wait for your approval, and every change is saved and can be undone, whether you or Claude made it.

brew install --cask johnccarroll/tap/claude-context-admin   # macOS app
npm install -g claude-context-admin                         # macOS or Linux, in the browser

Install · Use · Safety and privacy · Security · Feedback

What it does

See how your memories connect

Every memory across all your projects in 3D, with lines for the links between them. Spin it around, hover a memory to light up its links, and click to fly from one memory to the next. The leftovers stand out: notes nothing points to, or two notes saying the same thing. The flat 2D map is one tap away.

Edit memories like notes

Open a memory in the built-in Markdown editor and fix it yourself instead of asking Claude to relearn it: the title, its kind, the one-line summary Claude reads every session, and the details. Headings, bold, lists and code read as formatted while you type, and the Markdown marks show only on the line you're on (or always, with the Source view). Type [[ or press Link to link another memory; links read as their names, click one to change, remove or open it, and a broken one is flagged with a one-click fix. Rename a memory and the links to it and MEMORY.md update too. Every version is kept, with a diff and one-click restore.

![Typing [ in a memory lists the memories it can link to; the picked one reads as its name

See what Claude loads, and what it costs

What each project loads when a session starts, and how many tokens each piece costs: your instructions, the project's CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md, MEMORY.md, plugins, skills and MCP servers. Open any row to see the files behind it.

A review queue for upkeep

The cleanup, one card at a time: broken links, duplicates across projects, memories Claude never opens, MCP servers and plugins you never use, hooks pointing at missing scripts, a MEMORY.md near its limit, memories stranded when a repo was renamed, and instructions written for older models. Each card shows the evidence and the exact change. Nothing happens until you accept it, and Activity can undo it.

How it differs from /context and /doctor

Claude Code's built-in commands cover some of this in the terminal: /context shows how full the context window is in your current session, and /doctor checks that your installation is healthy. Claude Context Admin shows the whole picture, across every project, and keeps you in control of what changes: you can edit what it finds, every change is saved, and Claude's suggestions wait for your approval.

cca doctor is something else again. It checks that cca still understands the version of Claude Code you have installed.

And

• Add MCP servers, plugins and skills by pasting the JSON or command an install guide gives you. cca shows exactly what will run, asks where it applies, and has Claude Code add it. Keys become ${ENV_VAR} references, so a key never sits in a config file or on a command line.
• Claude helps, you decide. With the optional plugin, Claude can review your setup and suggest fixes. Each one shows up in Review with the exact text it would write, for you to accept or dismiss.
• Bulk edits, search, undo. Select many memories to move, retype or trash them. ⌘K finds anything. Activity lists every change, by you or Claude, with Undo.
• Light and dark, a resizable editor, and back/forward everywhere.

Install

macOS (recommended): the app

brew install --cask johnccarroll/tap/claude-context-admin

A native Mac app, signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. It also puts the cca command on your PATH. Closing the window keeps it running in the menu bar, so it can record memory changes Claude makes; Quit stops it. macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. Without admin rights the app goes to ~/Applications instead, so no password is needed.

macOS or Linux (including WSL): in the browser

npm install -g claude-context-admin

The same app, opened in your browser instead of its own window. Native Windows is planned. Built for Claude Code 2.1.277 or later; cca doctor checks that the parts it relies on still work.

Use

cca              # open the app (on macOS with the app installed; otherwise in your browser)
cca --browser    # open it in your browser even where the app is installed
cca --read-only  # look around without changing anything (in the browser)
cca audit        # problems and counts, in the terminal (--json for scripts)
cca doctor       # check cca still understands your Claude Code version

Let Claude help (optional)

claude plugin marketplace add johnccarroll/claude-context-admin
claude plugin install context-admin@context-admin

Then ask Claude to review your memories, or to remember something: the plugin's memory-review and remember skills handle it. The plugin adds a small MCP server and a hook that tells Claude when a memory it just wrote is malformed. It never writes files itself.

Safety and privacy

• Runs entirely on your machine and makes no internet connections of its own. The engine listens only on 127.0.0.1, behind a sign-in token that changes every run; the Mac app loads nothing else.
• Every change keeps the previous version and can be undone from Activity, unless the file changed again since (then restore from its history instead). Deleted files go to the Trash.
• It won't write while Claude Code is consolidating memories, or over a file that changed since you opened it.
• Plugin and MCP changes go through Claude Code's own claude command, which also does any downloading when you install a plugin. MCP keys and other secret values are never read or shown, and a plugin that installs by running a command shows you that command first.
• Every change is scanned by CodeQL and by Go's vulnerability checker (again daily), and a test fails the build if the code gains any network use beyond 127.0.0.1. Releases are signed, notarized, carry build provenance (gh attestation verify) and come with an SBOM (claude-context-admin-<version>.cdx.json on each release).
• When a Claude Code update changes something cca relies on, the app says which feature is affected instead of showing wrong numbers.

Security

Report vulnerabilities privately through GitHub: Security → Report a vulnerability on this repository. See SECURITY.md.

To check a download came from this repository's release workflow, unchanged:

gh attestation verify ClaudeContextAdmin-<version>-macos.zip --repo johnccarroll/claude-context-admin

SECURITY.md lists what each release ships with (SBOM, attestations) and what is checked on every change. CHANGELOG.md has the history, and CONTRIBUTING.md the rules a change must keep.

Build from source

Needs Go 1.26 and Bun.

make build    # web UI, then the cca binary
make check    # gofmt, go vet, go test -race, tsc
make dev      # live dev server on a made-up demo home: UI edits reload, Go edits restart
make dev-real # the same on your real config, read-only (scripts/dev.sh write: editable)

Feedback and contributions

Feedback and ideas are as welcome as code. If something is missing, felt off or could work better, open an issue. To contribute code, CONTRIBUTING.md covers building, testing and pull requests.

License

MIT © 2026 John Carroll. Release builds list their open-source components in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt.

Claude Context Admin is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Anthropic. "Claude" and "Claude Code" are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC. Screenshots use made-up data.